Prime Minister Trudeau announced expanded eligibility for small businesses looking to access the Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA).
The new changes to the CEBA will allow more Canadian small businesses to access interest-free loans that will help cover operating costs during a period when revenues have been reduced, due to the pandemic. CEBA is now open to small businesses with payroll lower than $20,000. To be eligible the applicant must have the following:
- a business operating account at a participating financial institution
- a Canada Revenue Agency business number, and to have filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return.
- eligible non-deferrable expenses between $40,000 and $1.5 million. Eligible non-deferrable expenses could include costs such as rent, property taxes, utilities, and insurance.
To read more about the expanded support read Trudeau’s news release.
When first launched, the CEBA was designed to allow for rapid deployment of credit to businesses with 2019 payroll between $50,000 and $1 million. The government then expanded the eligibility parameters of the program, by increasing the payroll eligibility range to between $20,000 and $1.5 million.
